Monday, March 07, 2016

Henry Ellenson, Luke Fischer and JaJuan Johnson combined to hit 49 of 63 two-point shots the last three game of the season (78%). The performances were enough to propel Ellenson to 2nd Team All-Big East in the just released list here, with Fischer just missing the list. Fischer's 15 of 17 during that span left him ranked as the 117th most valuable player in basketball at Value Add, while JJJ is one of the most improved players in the country moving up to 433rd in the past month of more than 4000 players.

The Breitbart All-American list proved prophetic in 2013, 2014 and 2015, and is being released this morning for the 2016 season. Like the All-Conference lists, it is based on a combination of the Value Add calculation of the point value each player has to his team and his NBA potential, as well as subjective awards for Conference and National Players of the Week and the running CBS Sports rankings. The 32 All-Conference teams are released at the same time here and the top three teams are listed below:

Player

1st Team All-Big East

Ht

Class

VA

NBA%

Subj

Dunn, Kris

Providence

6' 4"

Jr

5.93

94%

2.96

Whitehead, Isaiah

Seton Hall

6' 4"

So

5.71

32%

1.85

Bluiett, Trevon

Xavier

6' 6"

So

5.03

36%

2.59

Bentil, Ben

Providence

6' 9"

So

7.30

8%

3.63

Hart, Josh

Villanova

6' 5"

Jr

6.37

36%

Player

2nd Team All-Big East

Ht

Class

VA

NBA%

Subj

Watson, Maurice

Creighton

5' 10"

Jr

3.75

16%

Arcidiacono, Ryan

Villanova

6' 3"

Sr

5.03

11%

Jones, Roosevelt

Butler

6' 4"

Sr

5.14

Ochefu, Daniel

Villanova

6' 11"

Sr

5.15

20%

Ellenson, Henry

Marquette

6' 11"

Fr

4.56

91%

3.59

Player

3rd Team All-Big East

Ht

Class

VA

NBA%

Subj

Smith-Rivera, D'Vauntes

Georgetown

6' 3"

Sr

5.93

17%

Jenkins, Kris

Villanova

6' 6"

Jr

4.97

Rodriguez, Desi

Seton Hall

6' 6"

So

5.50

Fischer, Luke

Marquette

6' 11"

Jr

5.58

35%

Martin, Kelan

Butler

6' 6"

So

4.29

16%

If JJJ gets more minutes and Fischer stays out of foul trouble to give Ellenson support, MU could be a tough out in the Big East tournament. With JJJ and Fischer on the bench for large periods wins will be tough. Traci Carter is now in the top 1% of all players in assist rate at www.kenpom.com, and Carter and JJJ are one of only 11 duos in college basketball to combine to steal the ball more than 7% of opponents' trips when they are on the floor, while Haanif Cheatham and Duane Wilson need to hit some three-pointers to open driving lanes.